21.07. 2021

Why Tel Burna (Libnah?)???

Questions and aims

  1. Is it really biblical Libnah?
    • an earlier form of the Arabic name (Tell Bornât) might retain a corrupted form of the biblical name
    • a corruption of the biblical name by means of metathesis (trasposition of sounds or letters in a word)
    • book of Joshua 12 – the list of slain kings coressponds with archaeological dating of the mentioned sites (e.g. Ether)
  2. Evidence of the siege by the Assyrian army

Source: McKinny et al., 2018

Tel Burna as biblical Libnah

Joshua 10:29 Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Makkedah to Libnah and attacked it.

Source: Joshua 10:29 NIV

2 Kings 19:8 When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

Source: 2 Kings 19:8 NIV

2 Kings 23:31-32 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 32 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done.

Source: 2 Kings 23:31-32 NIV

Jeremiah 52:1-3 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. 3 It was because of the Lord’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.

Source: Jeremiah 52:1-3 NIV

Research area

Results

I. How to interpret visually homogeneous stratigraphy?

OSL

Explanation

  1. Provides relative or absolute dating of mineral grains.

  2. Based on the fact that if a mineral is exposed to sufficient light (e.g., sunlight), some or all of this stored energy will be lost.

  3. OSL provides more precise dating than radiocarbon method (ranging from a few centuries to about 150,000 years).























Source: Author

Soil texture

Explanation
Name of soil separate Diameter limits in mm (WRB classification)
Clay less than 0.002
Sand 0.002 – 0.063
Very fine sand 0.063 – 0.125
Fine sand 0.125 – 0.20
Medium sand 0.20 – 0.63
Coarse sand 0.63 – 1.25
Very coarse sand 1.25 – 2.00


It enables to determine changes in soil texture through archaeological stratigraphy.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/

XRF

Explanation

  1. Soil samples are irradiated with photons, usually from an X-ray tube. The X-ray beam excites electrons in the sample, causing it to emit secondary X-rays (fluoresce). The emitted energies occur at energies specific to elements in the sample, appearing as peaks over a given energy spectrum.

  2. The height or intensity of a given peak reflects, in part, the concentration of that element in the sample and may be converted to units of concentration, usually by comparison to a regression line or quadratic algorithm based on well characterized standards

  3. It is a fast and cheap method of obtaining data directly in the field.

  4. Data processing requires thorough statistical processing compositional data - Aitchison geometry).

Source: Smith et al., 2020

Source: Michal Hejcman

“When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.”


Source: Isaiah 37:8-17 NIV; https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/

II. What happens after abandonment?

Conclusion



  1. It has been demonstrated that it is possible to integrate several geoarchaeological methods and thus explain certain past human activities at a tell, based on sedimentary traces analysis.

  2. Iron Age IIB fill is an artificial sediment transferred from the tel’s slope to support the wall. The conclusions were confirmed by the use of the POSL.

  3. These results made it possible to create a hypothesis about the site’s history during the Iron Age II. It can be assumed that the transfer of soil was part of the preparations carried out in apprehension as by Sennacherib ’s military campaign in 701 BCE (2 Kgs 19:8-9).

  4. Aeolian dust deposition was confirmed by the presence of Ca in the topsoil.

Sources



Abrahams, P., Entwistle, J., Dodgshon, R., 2010. The Ben Lawers historic landscape project: Simultaneous multi-element analysis of former settlement and arable soils by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. J. Archaeol. Method Theory 17, 231–248. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-010-9086-8

Aitchison, J., 1982. The Statistical Analysis of Compositional Data. J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. B 44, 139–177.

Amadio, M., 2019. Tracing post-depositional processes and preservation of architectural materials and deposits in the semi-arid environment of southern Cyprus: A micromorphological approach. J. Archaeol. Sci. Reports 27, 101986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101986

Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Kaufman, A., 1998. Middle to Late Holocene (6,500 Yr. Period) Paleoclimate in the Eastern Mediterranean Region from Stable Isotopic Composition of Speleothems from Soreq Cave, Israel. pp. 203–214. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3659-6_9

Dan, J., Yaalon, D.H., Koyumdjisky, H., Raz, Z., 1976. The soils of Israel. Pamphlet 159. The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel: Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Organization Institute of Soils and Water, Soil Conservation and Drainage Department.



Entwistle, J., Abrahams, P.W., Dodgshon, R.A., 1998. Multi-element analysis of soils from Scottish historical sites. Interpreting land-use history through the physical and geochemical analysis of soil. J. Archaeol. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1006/jasc.1997.0199

Goldberg, P., 1979. Geology of late bronze age mudbrick from Tel Lachish. Tel Aviv 6, 60–67. https://doi.org/10.1179/033443579788497478

Goldberg, P., Macphail, R.I., 2006. Practical and Theoretical Geoarchaeology. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.

Huntley, D.J., Godfrey-Smith, D.I., Thewalt, M.L.W., 1985. Optical dating of sediments. Nature 313, 105–107. https://doi.org/10.1038/313105a0

Itkin, D., Geva-Kleinberger, A., Yaalon, D.H., Shaanan, U., Goldfus, H., 2012. Nārĩ in the Levant: historical and etymological aspects of a specific Calcrete formation. Earth Sciences History 31 (2), 210–228.

Itkin, D., Crouvi, O., Curtis Monger, H., Shaanan, U., Goldfus, H., 2018. Pedology of archaeological soils in tells of the Judean foothills, Israel. Catena 168, 47–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2018.03.014

Lian, O.B., 2013. Optical Dating, 2nd ed, Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science: Second Edition. Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53643-3.00042-X



Lucke, B., Sandler, A., Vanselow, K.A., Bruins, H.J., Abu-jaber, N., Bä, R., 2019. Composition of Modern Dust and Holocene Aeolian Sediments in Archaeological Structures of the Southern Levant. Atmosphere (Basel). 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10120762

McKinny, C., Yang, B., Cassuto, D., Shai, I., 2018. Illuminating a Canaanite and Judahite town: the archaeological background of Tel Burna, in: Chai, T., Johnson, D. (Eds.), Essays in Honor of Kay Fountain. pp. 1–15.

Porat, N., Davidovich, U., Avni, Y., Avni, G., Gadot, Y., 2018. Using OSL Measurements to Decipher Soil History in Archaeological Terraces, Judean Highlands, Israel. L. Degrad. Dev. 29, 643–650. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.2729

Porat, N., López, G.I., Lensky, N., Elinson, R., Avni, Y., Elgart-Sharon, Y., Faershtein, G., Gadot, Y., 2019. Using portable OSL reader to obtain a time scale for soil accumulation and erosion in archaeological terraces, the Judean Highlands, Israel. Quat. Geochronol. 49, 65–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.QUAGEO.2018.04.001

Reimann, C., Filzmoser, P., Fabian, K., Hron, K., Birke, M., Demetriades, A., Dinelli, E., Ladenberger, A. and The GEMAS Project Team, 2012. The concept of compositional data analysis in practice - Total major element concentrations in agricultural and grazing land soils of Europe. Sci. Total Environ. 426, 196–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.02.032



Riehl, S., Shai, I., 2015. Supra-regional trade networks and the economic potential of iron age II sites in the southern Levant. J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep. 3, 525–533.

Rosen, A.M., 1986. Cities of clay: the geoarchaeology of tells. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Sci. 50, 373–386. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229317040093

Rouillon, M., Taylor, M.P., 2016. Can field portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) produce high quality data for application in environmental contamination research? Environ. Pollut. 214, 255–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.03.055

Sanderson, D.C.W., Murphy, S., 2010. Using simple portable OSL measurements and laboratory characterisation to help understand complex and heterogeneous sediment sequences for luminescence dating. Quat. Geochronol. 5, 299–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.QUAGEO.2009.02.001

Sedov, S.N., Aleksandrovskii, A.L., Benz, M., Balabina, V.I., Mishina, T.N., Shishkov, V.A., Şahin, F., Özkaya, V., 2017. Anthropogenic sediments and soils of tells of the Balkans and Anatolia: Composition, genesis, and relationships with the history of landscape and human occupation. Eurasian Soil Sci. 50, 373–386. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229317040093

Smith, C. (Ed.), 2020. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2nd ed, Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1



Shai, I., Cassuto, D., Dagan, A., Uziel, J., 2012. The fortifications at Tel Burna: date, function and meaning, Israel. Israel Explor. J. 62, 141–157.

Shai, I., Dagan, A., Riehl, S., Orendi, A., Uziel, J., Suriano, M., 2014. A private stamped seal handle from Tel Burna, Israel. ZDPV 130, 121–137.

Shai, I., McKinny, C., Uziel, J., 2015. Late bronze age cultic activity in ancient Canaan: a view from Tel Burna. BASOR 374, 115–133.

Shai, I., 2017. Tel Burna: A Judahite Fortified Town in the Shephelah, The Shephelah during the Iron Age: Recent Archaeological Studies. “… as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the Shephelah” (1 Kings 10:27, 2 Chronicles 1:15). Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana.

Šmejda, L., Hejcman, M., Horák, J., Shai, I., 2017. Ancient settlement activities as important sources of nutrients (P, K, S, Zn and Cu) in Eastern Mediterranean ecosystems – The case of biblical Tel Burna, Israel. Catena 156, 62–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2017.03.024

Šmejda, L., Hejcman, M., Horák, J., Shai, I., 2018. Multi-element mapping of anthropogenically modified soils and sediments at the Bronze to Iron Ages site of Tel Burna in the southern Levant. Quat. Int. 483, 111–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.11.005



Templ, M., Hron, K., Filzmoser, P., 2011. robCompositions: An R-package for Robust Statistical Analysis of Compositional Data, in: Compositional Data Analysis: Theory and Applications. pp. 341–355. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119976462.ch25

Uziel, J., Shai, I., 2010. The settlement history of Tel Burna: results of the surface survey. Tel Aviv 37, 227–245.

Yaalon, D.H., Ganor, E., 1973. The influence of dust on soils during the Quaternary. Soil Sci. 116, 146–155.

Links